Off topic: Armour all?

SkagSig40

SkagSig40

Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
2,671
Hi guys! Sorry for the off topic but I was wondering if any of you car lovers out there know anything about Armour All? I have used it on my cars for a long time now and I just heard on 2 seperate occations that it can acctually speed up cracking on your dashboard and soft trim. I'm now wondering because I have a 2002 Chevy Impala(great car) and part of the foam on the steering wheel is cracking all over! The dealer said they never seen this and that it was a defect in the material. I have been using Armour all on it for about 8 months now and I wonder if maybe it did indeed help speed up the cracking that would normally happen over many years? The dealer put on a new steering wheel and now I'm afraid to put any Armour all on it in fear that maybe it hurts more than it helps! What do you guys use on your cars to keep them looking good? Is there anything better than Armour all? Other than this small problem my Impala has performed perfect!:D Now my wife want's a Camaro Z28!!!!:eek:
Thanks for any input!!!!;)
 
Skag, unless they've changed formulas, Armor All contains petroleum distillates which can be bad ju-ju for vinyl and other polymers. Silicone based products, like STP Son-of-a-Gun, seem not to have the same problem. When I lived in Florida years ago, I used to Armor All my vinyl seats religiously for protection from the sun. That is, right up until they started cracking like rotten leather.

Sarge
 
Why the heak are they marketing if for car protection then!!!!! Now I need to go clean it off of the dash!:mad: As soon as you trust a company they screw you over!
 
You can be like one of my Uncles and put saran wrap over everything. That ought to protect it. :)
 
Armour All should only be used once a month at most. It's never cracked any of my dashes, etc. But, I only use it now and then.

Any of you guys use coconut oil on your tires...;)
 
By lack of literacy, every time I see "Armour All", I can't help think of ubiquity of love... Sorry for off off-topic.
 
Actually, my bro is an engineer and has worked with plastics and design for 6 yars. Vinyl is made from sea salts, and they add plasticiser to the stuff. so, Armor all is actually plasticiser that you use when you can see that the vinyl is starting to die. Good stuff, should stretch the life out on any plastic, especially the unstable vinyl.

Keith
 
My wife is pretty mad too. She used to use the darn stuff once a month, almost religious. The last bottle that she bought, I happened to be reading at the kitchen table. I asked her if she was going to use the stuff on her leather car seats. The answer was positive. I went to the garage and found one of the old bottles. The older stuff was OK for leather but the new bottle is not. I guess the formula has been changed. Now she uses some stuff from Turtle Wax that is supposed to be good for the leather. If any one wants to know about the stuff I'll look the stuff up and let you know what the name is on the bottle.:)
 
I like bruise Lee's idea...sitting in sofa's still in the plastic...or buying the car and parking it.

wonder what the directions on the bottle say? "use until empty"?


munk
 
Ok so it is good and it is bad!!! I guess time will tell! I think I will email them and see what they say...well I think I can already tell you what they will say!:D

So is there anything out there Better than Armour All?
 
My wife is using formula 2001 from Turtle was now and she seems to like it pretty well. The Armor All that I just looked at in the garage say for vinyl, rubber and plastic. However, it is not to be used on cycle tires, seats. The surface will be too slick. Oh yea, not for plexiglass or plain glass. It seems the distilate will mess up the surface on the plexiglass and plain glass look like oil smears. I have some liquid treatment for leather that I think is better. Do you want the name of that too?:)
 
Vinyl is made from sea salts,
and they add plasticiser to the stuff.
Click to expand...

!!! NO. !!!

"vinyl" is a common generic name for a class of polymers that are made by inducing reactive monomers (mono--one) of the general formula H(2)C=C(H)X often called "vinyl-X" to form long chains or polymers (poly--many). The double bond becomes a single bond, and the "broken" bond is reformed between two monomers, hooking them together. Repeat and repeat. If X is a chorine atom, you get polyvinyl choride which was made from vinyl chloride.

Though the nomenclature is confusing, chloride in this case refers to a covalent, or non-ionic bond.
i.e not a salt. And nothing to do with the sea at all. Vinyl choride is a gas at room temperature, and liquifies around -13 deg C.

"polychloroethylene" is a perhaps a better name for the polymer, which is also used.

The H or the Cl atoms may be replaced by other chemical entities, altering the properties of the polymer. These variants are also commonly called "vinyl" in common parlance.

"Plasticizers" are chemicals that are added in small amounts during the process to achieve a desired level of flexibility or "plasticity". They are not bonded to the polymer chains, and often slowly leach out, especially in the presence of solvents. Sunlight may also cause damage to the plasticizers or the polymer itself. This is one of the reasons clear plastic tubing, like that used for drink dispensers can become hard and brittle with use. The plasticity is lost.

As mentioned, externally applied plasticizers may restore the flexibility of thin sheets of many man-made polymers including "vinyl" by replacing lost plasticizer.

end of rant

:)
 
Thank you, I may print that one. I learned something today. You may not think so but, that explained a thing or two for me.;) :D
 
You're welcome Pappy.

One other thing you may find interesting:

What I described produces long single-stranded polymer molecules. Toss in a few molecules like maybe like this (don't know exactly what they use):


(H)C=C(H)2
\
(H)C-C(H)=C(H)2
/
(H)C=C(H)2

You'll get branches, how many depends on how much you add.

A catalyst is often needed to make the polymerization work. More catalyst, you get shorter chains since you make more chains at once for the same amount of monomer.

The polymer size and number of branches determine the properties of the polymer. With care, flexibility, heat tolerance, strenghth, etc. may be controlled.

Other small molecules may also be polymerized too.
(polypropylene, polyamides, you may have heard of)
You can see that the posibilities are pretty much endless, at least in theory, and are still being explored.

Some reasons why there's so dang many kinds of plastic, with new ones still coming out.

EDIT:
ASCII pix is pretty crappy and took a couple of tries, but I hope you can get the idea!
 
Thanks Firkin.

Decades of consumer faith depended upon you. Actually, I'm one of those always stunned when anyone knows anything in the Land Where Nothing is Known. (or agreed upon)

I have a lunkhead theory for why cracks may appear after amour all use...if the plastic is already exhausted, the remedy destabilizes the 'set'.

I know...amatuer hour with munk.

munk
 
munk,

I know next to nothing about the real (pratical) synthesis or application of man-made polymers/plastics and what I've described is about as simple as it can get.

Many don't have (or need) plasticizers added.

Some especially nylon, are degraded by sunlight.
No amount of externally added plasticizer (none may have even been present orginally) will help if the polymer chains have been damaged. Won't do a thing for "macro" damage from over flexing, or flexing while embrittled due to low temp, or a loss of plasticizer.

If care is not taken to prevent monomers from becoming entrapped during the preparation, the lifetime of the product may be shortened. There's well-made stuff, and cheap stuff like everything else.

ArmorAll and similar treatments almost certainly contain mostly a hopefully inert medium or carrier.
Petroleum distillates are a likely candidate for that role. The contents of one bottle certainly can't be the best treatment for everything!!

I wouldn't routinely put such stuff on important or irreplaceable items unless I could find what kind of polymer they were made of, and it was appropriate.

Never on things like climbing ropes, lines or sails on boats, plastic latches, etc. They are all made of man-made polymers nowadays. Those should be properly cared for when not in use, monitored, and replaced often enough that a failure doesn't occur in a critical situation. one more rant.
 
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